Incentives

Meta-research and Innovation in how research and researchers are rewarded.

Meta- Research in the area of Incentives aims to understand what motivates researchers and how to change behavior. Subjects of investigation include:

Effects of formal policies and informal (social) systems of reward and punishment on scientific practice and the quality of the literature

Risk factors for bias, misconduct and use of questionable research practices, including cultural, institutional, situational and psychological factors

Accuracy of current metrics of research performance (e.g. h-index, journal impact factor) and their effects on scientific practice and the quality of the literature

Developing and advancing the use of new promotion and grant funding criteria. These criteria might address not only research quality, but also the durability and validity of claims, as well as other activities vital to science such as sharing data, conducting replication studies, correcting and retracting research, and the roles a scientist takes to improve the overall quality of science in their field

Improving current citation-based performance metrics and developing new metrics that reflect research quality, such as transparency of reporting, data sharing, reproducibility, and ultimate truth value of research findings

Innovation can help re-imagine and re-engineer reward systems by:

Developing and advancing the use of new promotion and grant funding criteria. These criteria might address not only research quality, but also the durability and validity of claims, as well as other activities vital to science such as sharing data, conducting replication studies, correcting and retracting research, and the roles a scientist takes to improve the overall quality of science in their field

Improving current citation-based performance metrics and developing new metrics that reflect research quality, such as transparency of reporting, data sharing, reproducibility, and ultimate truth value of research findings